The Final Curtain
by Jesseyica
Summary: This story was written for a friend for her birthday. She is the biggest Castle fan that I know. I hope you enjoy it Kett, and anyone else who reads it. It's not complete as of now but is on it's way.
1. Chapter 1

The Final Curtain

_Ok Aaron…you can do this…just one more scene and you are done. This is your last time walking out onto that stage. At the end of this scene it will all be over. This will all be over. _He thought to himself as he stood in the wings. As he looked across the stage that was filled with his fellow actors he spotted her on the other side. _What! What is she doing here. There is no way she could have known. Did I slip up…did I say something that tipped her off. Maybe, maybe she just came to see the show. I did promise her she could come watch at anytime. If she figured it out that's it…it's ruined._ He heard his cue and walked out onto the stage. The stage lights were so bright that he couldn't see past the first row in the packed theater. He took in the sight of the four cast members that shared his scene. These people had become his friends. A couple of them he surely would have stayed in touch with if things weren't about to change completely. He gave his final line and the lights went out. Through the darkness resounded a deafening bang. A flicker of light from stage right was all that could be seen. As the lights came back up there he laid. Surrounded by his cast. It was his final curtain after all.

_Ring! Riiinnnggg! Ring!_

"Ugh Castle could you please hand me my phone?" Detective Kate Beckett asked her fiancée as she moved away from his arms, where she had fallen asleep watching a movie.

"Payment first." Castle replyed as he waited for a kiss.

"Now, Castle, it could be the precinct." Kate countered.

Richard Castle knew that Beckett needed a good fifteen minutes to become her charming self once she woke up, but he couldn't resist any opportunity to get under her skin. He may have been playful, but he wasn't stupid so he handed her the phone without any further delay.

As she took the phone from him she decided to give in and gave him a small peck on the cheek as payment before she answered.

"Beckett."

"Is this Detective Beckett?" Asked a young female voice on the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is Detective Beckett. Can I help you?" Kate asked as her senses immediately heightened. She glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was 10:30 pm. She wasn't used to getting calls that late unless it was from Rick or the precinct.

"Detective, my name is Lisa Williams. I am a friend of Alexis Castle. She gave me your number. I tried to call 911 but the dispatcher thought I was joking and she wouldn't patch me through. I need to report a murder." Said Lisa as her voice broke again from the shock.

"Go on Ms. Williams." Kate took the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker so that Rick could hear.

"I'm sorry to call you directly, but I didn't know what else to do. I'm at the Berkley theater on campus. Could you please come down here. A man was shot during his performance and the police still haven't arrived." She begged.

"Berkley campus? It will take me some time to get there, but we are on our way. Ms. Williams you said Alexis gave you my number. Is she with you?" Kate asked.

At the sound of his daughters name Castle flinched.

"It's her friend." Kate mouthed to him.

"No, she actually was supposed to be here, we had planned to come to this dinner murder mystery show for my birthday, but she has a big exam on Monday so she bailed."

"Ok. Where can I find you?" Kate questioned as she was frantically trying to put on her boots.

"Well I'm wearing my Alabama hoodie, and I don't see anyone else with that on. You could look for that. I will try to be out in the foyer." And before Kate could answer the phone disconnected.

"Castle call Alexis. Make sure that she even knows this Lisa Williams and confirm with her that there was a dinner theater going on there tonight." Kate instructed as she put on her jacket.

As Castle locked the door behind them and stepped into the elevator he called his daughter.

"Alexis? Honey, do you know a Lisa Williams?" He asked

"Yeah, dad, I told her to call Beckett. She called me freaking out that the guy playing Barnaby really was dead. Is it true? Did he really get shot?" Alexis fired off question after question.

"Woh, slow down Alexis, first of all I don't know if it's true, and second of all Barnaby? Is that this guys name? Who would be that cruel to their child this day in age?" Castle laughed.

"Dad! Be serious, Barnaby was the character's name. Honestly with grams as your mother you never heard of the play "But Why Bump off Barnaby"?" Alexis said with a serious tone.

"Oh, yes of course, written in the 80's right? My high school did a version of that play. It was a disaster. The set fell apart on the first night and…"

"Dad, can we get back to what just happened please?" Alexis interrupted.

"I'm sorry sweetie, yes well we are on our way to the campus theater now. Beckett just wanted to make sure that you really did know this girl." Castle explained.

"Yeah, she is one of my good friends. Her birthday is tomorrow and we all chipped in to make it a great night for her. I, however, forgot about my physics test on Monday and decided I should stay home. I should have been there. She was freaking out dad."

"I'm glad you weren't there to be honest. You have already dealt with to much at your young age I am glad you didn't see it. Listen, sweetheart I will call you as soon as I can to fill you in o.k?" Rick asked with a fatherly touch.

"Ok love you talk to you later." Alexis replied before she hung up

"Love you too" he put his phone in his jacket pocket "Alexis confirms they are friends, and she confirms that there is indeed a play that was supposed to happen tonight. She's a little worried about her friend, but selfishly I'm glad she stayed home."

Castle and Beckett walked out of Castle's building and headed to Beckett's car. As they drove towards campus neither of them said a word. He could tell that she was getting into cop mode, and he didn't want to get in her way. When they first showed up nothing looked out of the ordinary. People were standing around huddled in groups, but there were no police cars, or yellow tape blocking off the building. Something just felt off to Beckett.

"Castle? Were are the other units. We took at least 20 minutes getting here, someone should have been here by now." Kate stated as they walked into the theater building.

"Well, maybe Lisa wasn't exaggerating when she said the dispatcher didn't take the call seriously." He replied.

"Ok, one call maybe, even though I don't agree with it, but all these people. I mean she couldn't have been the only one to have called. Oh look that must be her?" Kate spotted the Crimson red hoodie, but before she approached the girl she called in back up. Esposito and Ryan were just leaving the precinct and would arrive in about 15 minutes. She also called in Lanie who happened to be right down the street at her favorite restaurant "Ms. Williams?" Kate asked the girl in the hoodie.

"Yes."

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett and this is Richard Castle, Alexis' father. Could you tell me what happened here tonight?"

"Sure, thank you for coming, well, the first portion of the night was a catered dinner from the advanced cooking classes. Then they took about a half hour intermission to set up the chairs for the play. During the first act, the lights went out and there was a loud bang, like a gun shot. You could see a spark of light come from the right of the stage. When the lights came back on the actors all screamed. Aaron Summers, the actor that played Barnaby, was laying there dead. I immediately picked up my phone and dialed 911, but the dispatcher told me that I had nothing to worry about. It was in the script for that character to die and to please not waste his time with pranks." Lisa explained as she shifted from leg to leg.

"Well, not that it was right for him to be rude, but I'm sure he got a lot of calls like that over the weekend. People might not have realized that this was what they signed up for. It is a murder mystery dinner theater…right? I mean I could see why he would think it was a joke." Castle as he looked to Beckett for confirmation. What he got was a stare that said "I can't believe you just said that"

"Mr. Castle. I'm not an idiot. I know that the character was scripted to die, however, I just saw this same production last night with my parents. They had the same idea as my friends and bought tickets for me for my birthday. I didn't have the heart to tell them or my friends that I was going to be seeing it twice. And last night when the lights went out all you heard was a body hitting the stage floor. No bang, no spark of light. That's why I knew something was wrong." Lisa stated flatly.

"Ms. Williams, I assure you no one thinks that you calling us was stupid. Mr. Castle just has a tendency to speak before he thinks sometimes. If you can remember anything else that seemed different tonight please, don't hesitate to call me directly. You have my number." Kate shook her hand and started to walk towards Ryan and Esposito who had just gotten out of their cars.

"Hey guys, what's going on? I didn't know you liked the theater Beckett." Javier Esposito joked then immediately regretted it when he saw the look on Kate's face. "Oh, o.k. this wasn't a social invite so what's up?"

"It seems that someone wanted to bump off Barnaby for good." Castle replied.

"What Castle is trying to say is we caught a murder. Aaron Summers, our vic, was playing the role of Barnaby Folcey when in his death scene on stage he was apparently shot. Problem is the lights were out and as far as we know no one saw anything. I called Lanie she should already be in with the body. I need you two to interview some of these other witnesses and see if they can give us anything." Kate ordered.

"Where are the other unies? I don't see any other patrol cars here?" Ryan asked as he dug his notebook from his coat pocket.

"Well, Ms. Williams said she tried to call 911 but the dispatcher basically ignored her. I don't see, however, how they could ignore all the phone calls about this. I'm going to have to ask Captain Gates about that. I got the phone call because Ms. Williams is friends with Alexis."

"Hmm that's good to know. I'll see if anyone else tried to call and got the same run around." Ryan replied as him and Espo walked away.

"Why would anyone want to murder an actor in a college theater troupe? It doesn't make any sense?" Kate said as she walked back to her car with Castle.

"Well, it could be an understudy upset that he didn't get his big break. Or maybe a costume member mad about an extra couple pounds Aaron put on….oh oh I got it…it was the director. He was angry over a bad review about the death scene and needed to find a way to make it more realistic." Castle explained with a childish glee.

"Castle, it's late. Your theories get weak when you are tired. An angry director? That's the best you got. Come on let's go home and get some sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow to talk to Gates about our dispatchers." Kate smirked as she got into the car and drove back to the loft.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The next morning Kate woke up an hour earlier than normal. She had a difficult time falling asleep trying to figure out why this victim, who did this to him. She gave up on trying to fall back asleep and snuck out of bed. She had decided that it was best to take to Captain Gates without Rick around. She left him a note next to his coffee mug letting him know where she had gone and that she would see him later.

When she walked in the precinct it was like a ghost town except for one light one in one office. Captain Gates was apparently an early riser this morning as well.

_Might as well get this over with. _Kate thought to herself. She didn't like bringing up any issues that involved her fellow officers or those sworn to help. Cautiously she knocked on the captain's door.

"Come in." Gates called.

"Sir, could I have a moment to speak to you about something?" Kate asked.

"Of course Detective, how can I help you?" Gates replied as she closed the lid to her laptop.

"Sir, last night we picked up a case. An actor was killed on stage. The only reason we caught this case was because a friend of Alexis' was at the show." Kate started.

"And…get to the point Detective I have a lot of work to do this morning." Gates interrupted getting irritated.

"Well Sir, it's odd that I was called about this case by a witness because she tried to call 911 and the dispatcher told her to stop cranking the police and hung up on her. After speaking to several witnesses at least 17 others called 911 and got the same response. I was wondering Sir, if things have changed in dispatch and they are no longer taking murder calls seriously." Kate replied with a bit of bite behind her words.

"I will speak to someone about this right away Detective. It must be some mistake. I don't see how it's possible that they would ignore 1 call let alone 18. What do we know about the victim so far?" Gates asked getting into cop mode herself.

"Not much at this point. Aaron Summers, 30, playing the role of Barnaby for a dinner murder mystery play up at the college. So far we have no leads. The lights had gone out for the murder scene in the play and when they came up our vic was dead on the stage. As soon as the boys get here we should know a little more." Kate explained.

"Good, ok keep me in the loop. As soon as I speak to someone in dispatch I will let you know." Gates said with finality.

Kate let out a breath as she sat down at her computer. She enjoyed the precinct when it was quiet. She felt like she could actually think straight. She fired up her computer and went to the search engine. There didn't seem to be much on Aaron Summers as an actor. He did a few plays over the last 3 years. Other than that she couldn't seem to find anything that might point to why he would have been murdered. She hadn't noticed all the people that were filing in around her. Soon the precinct was at full staff. Including Castle who had taken up his normal seat next to her desk.

"Good morning Detective, missed you at breakfast." Rick said with a playful smile.

"Good morning Castle, I'm sorry I just felt like I needed to talk to Gates about something without you around irritating her even more." Kate replied with her own playful smile.

"Understood." Was all Rick said.

"Ah Esposito just the guy I needed to talk to. Were you able to get anything from your canvass?" Kate asked

"Not much, everyone we spoke to that was there was so focused on the show that they didn't notice anything going on around them. I did just look into his financials and phone records and there really wasn't anything unusual going on with those. As soon as Ryan gets done looking into family we planned on going to the victims home and see if anything comes up there." Esposito responded.

"Ok, good Castle and I will go talk to Lanie. See if there is anything that Aaron Summers can tell us about what happened to him." Kate said as she stood up and looked at Castle.

"Kate, are we planning on holding a séance? I should have brought my ritual candles." Castle chuckled.

"I meant if there was anything in his autopsy Castle. I didn't plan on talking to his spirit. Now if we have gotten the nonsense out of the way let's go." Kate replied as she walked away.

"Did you do something to piss her off this morning Castle? She seems a little more irritated than usual for the morning?" Esposito accused.

"Not that I know of….then again I don't always know when I did something stupid until she tells me…so we'll see." Castle answered as he followed Beckett.

When they got into the elevator Castle ventured a guess as to what was wrong. It turns out that she was just tired, and still irritated with the dispatchers for not doing their job. Silently he high fived himself that it wasn't his fault she was cranky.

Fifteen minutes later they stood in the medical examiner's office. Lanie walked them over to the table that held Aaron Summer's body.

"Did you find anything of interest Lanie?" Kate asked.

"Nope nothing….and I mean nothing. See this wound here?" She asked as she pointed to a hole near his heart. "This is a gun wound. Normally when there is a gun wound there is a bullet in that wound. However, I didn't find a bullet or a trace of a bullet. There is no exit wound so it should be in there." Lanie looked at Kate bewildered.

"An invisible bullet!" Castle exclaimed "How cool is that!"

"There is no such thing as an invisible bullet Castle, there has to be some other explanation." Kate said then turned to Lanie. "Is there some other explanation?"

"Not so far. I did find an odd chemical mixture in his bloodwork, but without further testing I can't tell you exactly what caused that. Right now Castle's invisible bullet is the best explanation I've heard so far. When I find something concrete I'll give you a call." Lanie said before walking out of the room.

Kate looked at the wound a little closer. It did look like a gunshot wound, so what caused it? They have no idea who would want to kill this guy, or what type of weapon he used. Usually by now they had an idea of what caliber was used at least. They didn't have a starting point and that was irritating her. "Let's go back to the precinct and see if anyone else has had any luck." She said before heading out.

When they got back to the precinct they were met by Ryan.

"There you guys are. I looked into Summers family and no surprise there isn't any. He did have a fiancé Meredith Black. She is in the conference room if you want to talk to her. Understandably she is really upset, but she isn't making any sense either." Ryan explained.

"What do you mean not making any sense?" Kate asked.

"She honestly is just sobbing so hard I can't catch a word of what she is saying. It all sounds like jibberish to me." He answered then walked away.

"Ok, ready to talk to her?" Kate asked Castle

"After you Detective." He replied.

"Ms. Black? I'm Detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for coming in to talk with us. I know this is hard but did Aaron have any enemies? Anyone that would want to harm him for any reason?" Kate asked.

"No, no of course not. Aaron was a sweet man, he got along with everyone in his theater troupe. He always came home in a good mood. He was generally a happy guy. At least he was until…." Meredith trailed off.

"Until what Ms. Black?" Kate urged.

"Please call me Meredith. He was generally happy until about two weeks ago. He came home after rehearsal and was just quiet. Like something had happened but he wouldn't talk about it. He didn't seem the same after that. It was kind of like he was pulling away from me. I wasn't the only one who noticed either. His best friend Aiden Michaels, his understudy, came over last week to ask me about it. It seems that Aaron was off his game so to speak. When Aiden tried to ask him about it he got defensive, said it didn't matter anymore and walked out of rehearsal. I don't know what was going on with him Detective. Please, please I need answers. I don't understand." Meredith finished as the tears started to roll again.

"We will find out who did this Meredith, I will do everything I can to bring his killer to justice. You have my word. Here is my card if you can think of anything else please don't hesitate to call." Kate stood up and shook Meredith's hand. Castle walked Meredith to the elevator and then came back into the conference room.

"So what have we learned so far. Happy go lucky guy, nothing odd going on in his financial life, seemed like nothing odd in his personal life until two weeks ago. What could have possibly happened two weeks ago to make him get irritable and defensive." Castle questioned as paced the room.

"Well Rick that's exactly what I plan to find out." Kate replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Later that evening Kate and Rick sat around the kitchen bar and quietly ate their take out Chinese food. It was rare that they could just sit and enjoy each other's company without any distractions. Unfortunately for them …this time was no different.

_Ring! Riiinnnggg! Ring!_

"Hello Alexis." Castle said as he answered his phone.

"Hey Dad, I actually need to talk to Kate, but she didn't answer her phone. Is she with you?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah hold on. It's for you, Alexis said she called you but you didn't answer." Rick said as he passed Kate the phone.

"Hey Alexis, what's going on?" Kate asked

"It's my friend Lisa, the one that called you about the case. I just got a weird text message from her roommate Sheryl. She said Lisa was talking in her sleep last night. She said something like stop that woman…she did it…don't let her off the stage. No please don't let her get away. Weird right? Could she be remembering something?" Alexis asked with concern.

"Could be. Would you be able to bring Sheryl and Lisa down to the station tomorrow so I can talk to them about it?" Kate questioned.

"Yeah, no problem, hey can you tell my dad I won't be home til late? I have a huge exam tomorrow and I'm studying with a friend." Alexis asked.

"I'm sure that's fine, but I will let him know. Thanks for the call Alexis. Goodnight." Kate said as she hung up the phone. "Apparently our witness is sleep talking…more like sleep yelling from the sounds of it. Alexis is going to bring her and her roommate to the station tomorrow. Oh and she told me to tell you she will be home late. Study time with a friend." Kate said as she stood from her stool to clean up.

"Oh ok guess we actually have the house to ourselves then tonight." He half replied as he looked through the newspaper. Suddenly he sat upright in his seat. "Beckett look at this announcement:

Seamus McKenna and his wife Brianna proudly announce the engagement of their daughter Madeline McKenna to Aaron Summers. The two will be wed next Sunday at the McKenna's estate.

And look at this picture. That is our victim but that is not the same woman that was in your conference room this afternoon." Castle turned the paper to show Kate.

"What is going on!" Kate exclaimed. "Why would someone pretend to be this guys fiancé? Does she not understand that I could arrest her for interfering with my investigation?"

Kate picked up her phone and called Ryan. "Ryan, sorry to call you this late, how did you find Meredith Black?"

"I didn't find her…she came in asking for the Detective that was investigating the case. But before you ask I did look into her. I had her wait in the conference room and called a couple of the people in Aaron's theater troupe. They verified that she was who she said she was and one sent over a picture they had taken of Meredith and Aaron from an old cast party. Why Beckett, what's going on?" Ryan asked.

"Well, now I'm not sure. Castle just found an engagement announcement in the paper for Aaron Summers and Madeline McKenna. It just doesn't make any sense. He was engaged to two different women. How did he think he was going to get out of that one?" Kate speculated.

"McKenna? Like Seamus McKenna?" Ryan asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"Yeah, Seamus McKenna is Madeline's father. You know him?" Kate replied.

"No, not personally, just by reputation. Seamus McKenna is rumored to be a high up with the Westies. He is basically an untouchable. Every time someone gets close to catching him with something shady he manages to worm his way out of it. If Summers was marrying into that family then this guy was not as clean as we thought. Either that or he was being blackmailed into it." Ryan explained.

"The Westies….again…wow the body count just keeps on growing with them don't they. Ok, thanks Ryan. I'm gonna need you in early tomorrow. It seems like we need to do some more digging on this guy." Kate said then hung up the phone. She relayed all the information she was just given to Castle. When she finished her phone rang again…this time it was Espo on the other end.

"Hey Beckett, I'm not sure if what I found is relevant to the case or not but I figured I would give you a call anyway. So I ran Aaron Summers through the military database and it turns out that he used to be in the Army. He enrolled when he was 18 and then was released at 27. It says that he worked with on classified projects. So I called a buddy of mine that I still talk to from when I was in and he recognized the name. Rumor has it that Summers was a genius. He was recruited right out of high school. His area of expertise was chemistry. They had him working on a new kind of weapon. Apparently from what my buddy heard he had a breakthrough on something, but couldn't find a way to stabilize it. He was so distraught with what he considered failure he had a sort of mental breakdown. They released him due to medical illness." Espo said.

"Chemistry? Lanie said she found a lot of chemicals in his blood work that she couldn't explain. Did you guys find anything at his place?" Kate prodded.

"Not anything out of the normal. We found your basic things. Scripts, bills…we did find a set of keys under his mattress, but no idea what or where they are too." Espo answered.

"Ok. Thanks Javi, I actually just got off the phone with Ryan before you called, I told him I needed you guys in early tomorrow, and now it seems like we have more to discuss. Lets meet around 8 and we can catch the Captain up on what we have come across so far too." Kate once again hung up her phone and sat down next to Rick.

"One man, two fiance's, ex Army, chemical genius, mental breakdown and then ends up dead on stage. Why is it that we can't catch a simple case anymore? I mean don't get me wrong I like the strange ones, but it seems that they keep getting more and more complicated." Kate said as she laid her head on her fiancé shoulder.

He laid his head against hers and said "It wouldn't be worth it if it was simple. You like a challenge Kate and I'd say that this one is going to be a big one. Hopefully Alexis' friend remembered something helpful. Maybe this mystery woman that she was trying to stop in her sleep is the killer."

"I don't know Castle. I have a feeling this is just gonna get crazy." Kate said before she fell asleep on his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The next morning Beckett woke up to the smell of coffee and a kink in her neck. Rick had gotten up before her and replaced his shoulder with a pillow. As she sat forward and tried to work out the kink Castle came in with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Good morning Kate. You looked peaceful I didn't want to wake you until I had to." Said Castle as he handed over the cup.

Kate took her first sip before replying "Good morning. Thank you for this it is going to e a very busy day."

_Ring! Riiinnnggg! Ring!_

"Detective Beckett." She answered "Of course sir. Thank you." She hung up and looked at Castle. "that was Gates she wants everyone in her office at 9 am. That gives us an hour with the guys to figure something out. Text Ryan and Espo and tell them to get there earlier if they can. I'm gonna get dressed and head out."

At 7:45 am Beckett walked into the precinct. Ryan and Espo were at their desks and stood up when she walked in. They gathered around Beckett's desk.

"Good morning guys. Thanks for being early. The Captain wants to see us at 9 and we have nothing solid to give her. We have speculations and random facts, but how do they fit. Not to mention a possible mystery woman if Lisa was remembering something. Ok to the board." She said as she walked to the murder board.

She picked up a picture of Aaron Summers and tacked it up on the board. "Aaron Summers, 30, theater actor, ex-military, chemical genius, 2 fiancees, gun shot wound with no bullet." She said aloud as she wrote on the board next to his picture. "Ok guys what else. Meredith said he was fine til two weeks ago. So Espo after our meeting I want you to go back through his financials from then see if there is a routine or something we missed. There are two women in the picture and one has heavy mob connections. Ryan I want you to talk to Meredith again. Find out why she didn't mention the other fiancée. She had to have known. Castle and I will track down the McKenna's and get their take on this. Something, somewhere has got to pop to start us off right." As she turned back around from facing the board she saw Captain Gates at her office door calling them in. Castle sat down at Beckett's desk. "Oh no you too Mr. Castle." Gates called. Shocked he walked in behind Espo and closed the door. "As you know many of your witnesses claimed to have called 911 at the time of the murder. There are no such call, now either there are a lot of people in on this or you missed something." Gates said accusingly.

"Captain…it's not possible for there to be no calls. I saw a couple of them myself. Lisa showed me the history on her phone that is time stamped. I checked a couple others as well. Those calls to 911 were made and answered." Kate replied.

"Detective Beckett I looked through those logs myself. No calls from the campus were made that night." Gates said as she sat down.

"Unless…"Castle started and then stopped as he saw the look on Gates' face.

"Go on Mr. Castle. That's why I allowed you in here. I have no idea about how this could happen." Gates assured.

"Well I was going to say unless the calls were intercepted. Rerouted to the killer." Castle said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Why would he/she do that Castle?" Kate asked amused.

"To give him or herself more time to get away. If the 911 calls would have actually gone through when placed, then he/she may not have had time to get off campus. This just gave them more time." Castle stated proudly.

"And how could that be possible Mr. Castle? It was only the campus calls that weren't routed to 911. Are you saying there is a way to intercept that many numbers?" Gates challenged.

"There must be sir. It's the only explanation." Castle replied.

"Ok for the sake of we have nothing else I want you to scout the campus for a router or something. Let's hope it's still there, or someone comes forward mentioning they saw something." Gates said as she waved her hand in dismissal.

"Well ok new plan. Castle and I will handle talking to Meredith and the McKenna's. Ryan take LT with you and scout around the campus. Esposito I want you to stick with rechecking the financials. We need something to go on guys." Beckett ordered.

"Detective Beckett." A voice interrupted

Kate turned around to see Lisa and another girl standing there.

"Oh Ms. Williams I almost forgot I asked you to come in." Kate responded flushed.

"It's Lisa please, and this is my roommate Sheryl. We can come back later if your busy." Lisa mentioned.

"No, its no problem would you like something to drink?" Kate asked.

"No we are ok. I'd rather just get this over with maybe if I tell you what I remember I won't have more nightmares." Lisa said as she took a seat at the conference table.

"Ok. Sure go ahead when you're ready." Beckett urged.

"Well as I mentioned when I talked to you before I had just seen the play the day before so I wasn't as focused on the set or the scene. I was more interested in the surroundings. I noticed a woman standing off stage opposite of where Aaron entered. She stood there for most of the scene and just before the lights went out she rushed down the stairs. When the lights came back on she was gone. I'm sorry I didn't mention her earlier honestly I didn't think about her at all until Sheryl woke me up and said I was yelling about some lady. It kind of all came back to me."

"Do you think you could describe her for a sketch artist?" Beckett asked.

"I…I could try…but I can't promise." Lisa answered.

"Thank you Lisa, and Sheryl for your time." Kate said as she shook the girls hands.

The girls left and Castle turned to Kate "So did you find that helpful?" Castle asked.

"I don't know … maybe…hopefully her sketch with shake something loose. Let's pray Ryan and Espo are having better luck than us." Kate answered.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

As Beckett and Castle were being filled in by Lisa and Sheryl , Ryan and LT arrived on campus.

"I have no idea where to start." Ryan complained.

"Well I will go speak to the switchboard operator, maybe you could search around the theater?" LT said more as a question than a statement.

"Sounds like as good a plan as any. Call if you find something." Ryan said as he got out of the car and started to walk by the theater.

"You can't make me do this. Aaron just was killed it's disrespectful to force this on me now. He was my best friend." Ryan heard someone say before he turned the corner of the building.

"You signed a contract Aiden. You signed stating that you would take Aaron's place should he be unable to perform." A second voice replied.

"Unable to perform!? He is dead Max. If you would have let him out of his contract when he wanted this might not have happened." Aaron retorted.

"Well…you will go on as Barnaby next weekend. Then I will re-evaluate the wording of our contract regarding this play. But that doesn't change the contract for the troupe Aiden. 4 more years or $40,000 your choice." Max said.

Ryan walked around the corner in time to see who he assumed was Max go around the building away from him.

"Mr. Michaels?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah who are you?" Aiden snapped.

"Detective Kevin Ryan N.Y.P.D. Meredith Black mentioned you were her fiance's understudy." Ryan said as he showed his badge.

"Oh I'm sorry Detective I didn't mean to be short with you. Just a long couple days ya know. How can I help you?" Aiden asked as he shook Ryan's hand.

"Who was that man you were just speaking with?" Ryan asked.

"Max Heart. He is the producer and owner of our theater troupe." Aiden replied.

"And you were arguing about Aaron?" Ryan questioned as he pulled out his notepad.

"Yes..and no. I was Aaron's understudy for this play. Sometimes he was mine. When you get accepted into this troupe you have to sign a general contract. As an understudy you have to sign one stating no matter what you will go on if the leading actor is unable." Aiden said. "Max added another weekend onto the show and is enforcing that contract. He doesn't care that my best friend was just murdered."

"You said if he had let Aaron out of his contract this wouldn't have happened? What did you mean by that?" Ryan asked.

"About two weeks ago Aaron told me he received an offer he couldn't refuse. He said he had to get out of his contract. I reminded him that he still had three years of his contract left. There was no way Max would let him out early. He said he had to it was the only way and he would find the money. He didn't say much after that. In fact I didn't see him much after that either." Aiden commented.

"Only way for what and what money?" Ryan asked more to himself than Aiden.

"I don't know what only way meant, but the money I can explain. We sign a five year contract to get into this troupe. If you want an early release it's a cancellation fee of $10,000 a year that's left. Max knows we don't make enough for that so no one ever really leaves. Detective I heard Max on the phone the day before Aaron was killed. I don't know who he was talking to but he said "the only way out is to pay or die". I assumed it was just words but now I don't know." Aiden said as he walked away.

Ryan picked up his phone just as it rang.

"Hey LT what's up…ok I will be right there." Ryan said as he walked across the campus.

When he met up with LT he saw LT holding a box. "What did you find?" Ryan asked.

"Campus security found it actually it almost fell on one of them actually." LT explained.

"Fell on them?" Ryan questioned.

"Off the telephone pole. Must have been attached somehow and wiggled free." LT replied as he handed it over.

"Nice job. I think we got what we came for. Let's head back to the station so I can fill in Beckett." Ryan started to walk to the car.

"As you can see Detective the box is pretty banged up I'm not sure what you will be able to get from it. I did, however, call it in to Espo already to see if he could track down the serial number." LT stated.

"That's smart. Ok. Then hopefully my partner can tell us where it came from and will lead us to our killer." Ryan claimed as he hopped into the car and drove to the station.

Esposito sat at his desk getting frustrated. He felt like he had already been through these financials with a fine tooth comb. Seven days mainly the same thing. A $60 withdraw from an ATM around 10 am. A debit at Java Coffee at around 5 pm for $5.98. Maybe a charge for something from a random store, but that was only once or twice and nothing jumped out at him. He went back another week and it was the same thing.

"_How did this guy end up with two fiancee's? He is one boring man." _He thought to himself. _"Alright I'm gonna just amuse myself and go back one more week. Get a jump on Beckett asking me too."_

"What! Woh! Would ya looky here. I gotta show this to Beckett." He said aloud.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Esposito got to the interrogation room door just as Beckett, Castle and Merideth Black walked out.

"Thank you for coming back in Merideth." Kate said as she shook her hand.

"Thank you for working so hard to find this monster Detective." Merideth replied before she walked away.

"Well that was a dead end. Merideth admitted she was at the theater that night waiting to ask Aaron about the announcement she found on his laptop. She was standing wehre Lisa said she saw a woman." Kate said as Ryan walked up to them. "I called the people she was with when the gun went off. They confirm she was waiting in the green room."

"Well I got something helpful." Ryan boasted.

"Bet it's not as good as mine." Espo bragged.

"Bet ya it's better." Ryan retorted.

"Ok. Both of you stop. I get the machoness but we have a murder to solve. Espo what did you find?" Kate asked.

Esposito smirked at Ryan and began. "Well I was going back over his financials like you asked. At first we went back about a week and didn't see any unusual activity. SO you told me to go back two weeks. Well I went back three and that's when I noticed it. Everyday Aaron Summers would stop at an ATM withdraw $20, stop at Java coffee, spend the same amount of $5.98. well two weeks ago the amount went from $20 a day to $60 a day. That's $280 more a week. Not only that, originally he was taking money from the ATM across from the theater at the Java Coffee. So he'd withdraw his money and not even five minutes later debit his order. Well two weeks ago he started using an ATM about 30 minutes away and not only that, his debit card was always rung up five hours later from the same area."

"Good…find out exactly where that ATM is, maybe they have a camera so we can figure out why he suddenly would go 30 minutes away for money and coffee." Beckett ordered "Next?" she looked at Ryan.

"Well 2 things really. One Javi already knows we found a device that fell out of a tree looks like a router of some sort. LT called in the serial number." Ryan said.

"I have someone trying to locate where it came from right now." Javier interjected.

"2nd I spoke to Aiden Michaels, Aaron Summers understudy. As I was walking to the theaer I overheard Aiden talking with Max Heart. He's the producer and owner of their troupe. Turns out Aaron was trying to get out of his contract. He had an offer he just couldn't refuse. He would have to pay $30,000 to break it. Not only that Aiden overheard Max on the phone the day before the murder saying 'Pay or Die'. He wasn't sure who he was talking to, but the timing points to Aaron." Ryan finished.

"Max Heart…you had motive and opportunity. Bring him in. I want to know if it was Aaron on the other end of that conversation and if he followed through on his threat." Beckett ordered.

"I'm on it." Ryan said as he went to his desk.

"So our leading man wanted out of his contract, but $30,000 is a lot of withdraws. An offer he couldn't refuse….new troupe maybe? But why kill him….why not just let him out of his contract?" Castle speculated to Beckett.

"Well I'm gonna guess it's because he is the most wanted theater actor in America right now, according to the reviews I read about him. People came from all over to see him perform. If Max let him go he would be out a lot of money. If Aaron ends up dead he can pull sympathy performances and still get something out of it." Beckett reasoned.

"And that is why you are the Detective and I the lowly writer." Castle quipped.

"Well I need to fill Gates in on everything we have so far. Looks like it's gonna be a late night. Could you run out to Remy's and bring back dinner for everyone? I'll join you after I question Mad Max." Kate asked with authority.

"Anything you say Detective. Is Gates included in dinner?" Castle asked cautiously.

"I'll offer before I fill her in and let you know, but I doubt it." Kate replied as she knocked on her Captain's door.

Half an hour later Kate was in the interrogation room with Max Heart, while Ryan, Esposito and Castle sat behind the glass to watch while they ate.

"Mr. Heart do you know why I asked you to come down here today?" Kate asked in her authoritive tone.

"You want front row seats to the memorial show?" Heart replied smartly.

"Cute, but no I was actually wondering why you would kill off your leading man…literally. Didn't want him to go to the competition? So it's either pay or die right?" Beckett stated.

"Wait! What! You think I killed Aaron? That's ridiculous. Why would I want Aaron dead? We were settled!" Max exclaimed.

"Settled? As in he paid off his contract?" Kate inquired.

"Well HE didn't, but his future father in law did. Though I'm confused I thought he was gonna marry that Merideth chick, but Mr. Kenna set me straight about that. He paid Aaron's early cancelation fee. After last weekend's performance Aaron was free to go. I had no reason to harm him." Max said confidently. "If I were you I'd talk to McKenna. When he left my office I heard him tell Aaron he owned him now."

"So who were you threatening with pay or die?" Beckett questioned.

"I was correcting a producer down in Florida. The correct line was 'pay or die'. I wasn't threatening anyone I was fixing a line to a scene." Max answered.

"Thank you for coming down Mr. Heart. If I have any further questions be available ok?" Beckett said as she walked out.

Ryan, Espo and Castle joined Beckett in the conference room so she could eat and they could discuss.

"Ok, so we now know that McKenna paid off Aaron's contract. We still don't know why he changed his routine and why he went 30 minutes away to do it. McKenna told Aaron 'I own you now', that doesn't sound like a blissful arrangement for future in laws. Where are we at with the ATM footage?" Kate asked Javi.

"They will have it to us by the morning. Along with where that box came from." Espo replied.

"Ok, well it's past 8 pm so let's call it a night. Tomorrow we will start fresh. I will speak to the McKenna's and get some answers hopefully." Beckett said as she stood up. When Ryan and Espo were gone she turned to Castle. "Am I going crazy or are none of these pieces fitting together? I mean an actor getting involved with the mob. No rhyme or reason to it. What could McKenna have on him. Then there is how quickly this all happened…a two week period? I'm getting frustrated Castle…buy me a drink?" She asked with a flirtatious grin.

"I thought you would never ask." Castle replied.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The next morning the precinct was buzzing with confusion as Castle and Beckett made their way towards her desk. Kate looked up to see Officer Hastings coming towards them.

"Detective Beckett. Mr. Castle." Hastings greeted. "Detective Beckett Seamus McKenna is here to see you….along with half the untouchables from the Westies. I showed him to the conference room for you." Hastings added as she walked away.

"Well that explains all the commotion." Kate said as she raised an eyebrow. "Let's get this done." She started to walk away. She turned to say something to Castle and saw him still standing by her desk. "Are you coming Castle?" She asked mockingly.

"I…uh..well…" Castle stuttered as he looked around at all the officers who were now watching him. He walked up to Beckett. "It's just…all those guys…I…" He tried to explain.

"Castle…we are in my house remember. I have a gun along with alllll these other officers. Your safe with me remember." She joked.

"Yeah safe…like we were safe with the tiger…or how about safe underwater…or how about being locked in a storage locker that was covered in ice." He rambled.

"Shut up Castle…let's go." Kate ordered as she walked into the conference room. "Mr. McKenna how did you know I wanted to see you this morning?" Kate asked smartly.

"I received a call from an associate of mine letting me know that you were looking into my future son in laws death. So naturally I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help you along. However, knowing you were planning on speaking to me leads me to believe that you have something specific on your mind Detective. So let's be business people and just ask me what is on that pretty little mind of yours." Seamus replied with the same smugness.

"Ok McKenna, why did you pay Aaron's contract fee? And what did you mean when you said I own you now?" Kate jumped into it.

"Aaron wasn't happy with the troupe anymore. With the wedding just around the corner he needed to be available to my daughter when she arrived. There were a lot of details to go over before the wedding so I made it easier for him to be available. As for owning him? I don't know what your implying Detective. I did tell him he owes me but not I own him. Miscommunication apparently." Seamus stated without a missing a beat.

"When your daughter arrived?" Kate prodded.

"She was in Ireland until Monday. I took a couple of the guys with me Thursday to go help her pack her belongings. I was over there when I received the call about Aaron. We came back as soon as we could. Maddy joined me even though there was no longer to be a wedding. She wanted to pay her respects of course." Seamus answered.

"So you and your men were in Ireland when Aaron was murdered?" Kate asked to clarify.

"That's right Detective…sorry to make it harder for you, I didn't kill him and I didn't have a reason too. He'd be no good to me dead. However, when this is over I do expect to receive my daughter's dowery back." McKenna replied.

"Dowery? As in you paid Aaron to marry your daughter." Kate said with a spark of interest.

"I DID NOT PAY HIM TO MARRY MY DAUGHTER!...I'm sorry for raising my voice, but you American's don't understand the tradition. It's more of a gift to help the man set up a good home for a woman. He could have set up a great home with the dowery I provided." Seamus said as he calmed down.

"How much did he receive?" Kate asked as she made a note in her notepad.

"What you haven't found that detail yet? The boy could act but there is no way he could make $50,000 disappear without a trace. Find my money Detective or I will find a way to get it back." Seamus McKenna threatened as he got up and walked out.

Castle looked at Kate bewildered. Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"$50,000 how did we miss that in his financials. It wasn't hidden at his apartment. There was no safe deposit box key laying around. Maybe it's behind whatever door that other key we found at his place unlocks. Wherever, it is we are back to square one. We have no suspects, no leads, and no answers just a bunch of questions. Why was he engaged to both of those women?, where did he disappear to for hours at a time?, where's the money from the dowery?, and why was that key so important to hid it under his bed?" Kate rambled.

Esposito came into the interrogation room to hear the last few questions.

"I think I can answer one or more of those questions. The ATM footage came back. We have a location. Aaron goes into the same building for hours everyday. I got the address . You coming?" Espo asked.

A half hour later they pulled up to the building they saw Aaron go into from the footage.

"This is a shady area." Espo said as they got out of the car.

"Yeah I don't know why a guy like Aaron Summers would choose to hang out around here." Beckett stated as she looked at her surroundings. "But we aren't going to get any answers just standing here. She walked up to the front door and pulled. It was unlocked so they just walked in. There were 12 mailboxes lined up on the right wall. She walked over and took a look.

"Aaron Summers isn't listed on these boxes. There isn't even a blank one to assume that may be his." She continued to look at the names. "Lets try this one. It's marked as the office. Maybe whoever is there can tell us if Summers rented here." She said as she headed down the hall to apartment 202. One the door it said Office with the hours of 11 am -12 pm and 4 pm to 5 pm. "Not much of open hours is it?" She looked at her watch 1:23 pm. "Well I'm not waiting til 4." She said as she knocked on the door. No answer.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Yeah yeah I'm coming." Came a voice from inside. "What do you want it's not business hours." Replied the older man that opened the door.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett NYPD, this is Detective Esposito and Richard Castle. I needed to know what apartment you rented out to Aaron Summers." Kate said in her Detective tone.

"No Aaron Summers here lady." Replied the guy as he started to shut the door.

Kate blocked the door from closing. And held up a picture of Aaron.

"This man, have you seen him in your building?" She asked getting annoyed but what seemed to be another dead end.

The man grabbed the picture and squinted at it. Then he laughed out loud.

"Yeah I know him that's Tony. Tony Lopiccolo. Weird guy, he says to me, Marty if you don't see me for three days go to my apartment and clear everything out. He paid me a grand up front and $40 a day in cash to keep that promise. Come to think of it I haven't seen him in a couple days so I guess tomorrow if he isn't here his junk is gone." The man said mostly to himself.

"Well…Marty is it? You won't be seeing him anymore. He is dead. Do we have permission to enter the apartment?" Kate asked.

"Dead…well isn't that my luck. I get a tenant that I like and he ends up dead. Yeah, sure toots. I've got his key around here somewhere." Marty said as he started to walk away.

"I think we have our own. If we need yours we will come back. What apartment was he in?" Kate asked getting impatient.

"He was set up in apartment 209. Upstairs." He answered as he shut the door in their faces.

"Well," Castle cleared his throat "Nice guy." He said as he followed Beckett and Espo to apartment 209.

Kate walked down to the end of the hall and dug out the key they had found in Aaron's other apartment. She put the key into the keyhole and turned. She grinned as she heard the click of the lock. "And let's see what's behind door number one shall we?" She said with a smile.


	8. Chapter 8

So folks this is the last chapter. I hope that I tied up all the loose ends for you and that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Kett, I hope it was as good as you hoped. I hope it's a birthday present that you will enjoy again. Thanks everyone for following it and for the reviews. This is my first completed story, so I hope it was an ending fitting for Castle.

Chapter Eight

Kate pushed open the door and walked into an empty room. It looked as though no one had been there for months. There was no furniture or even light fixtures on the ceiling. It was completely empty.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Exclaimed Beckett. "We finally get a lead onto where he was going and we hit another dead end."

Riing Riiinnngg

"It's Ryan. What's up Ryan?" Beckett asked through the phone. "Tony Lopiccolo. You don't say. Look into it more will you. Financials if there are any. Known acquaintances. Anything. Thanks Ryan." Beckett hung up her phone and looked at Castle and Javi who were still taking in the eeriness of this empty apartment. "Ryan said that the phone device that was found was purchased two days before the murder by Tony Lopiccolo. Paid for it with a prepaid Visa card. Tech is trying to figure out where the calls were routed to. As for now… wait." She said as she walked over to the seemingly blank wall. "Espo you got your blacklight on you?" She asked holding out her hand waiting for it. Esposito handed her his mini blacklight that he always carried with him just in case. She turned it on and scanned the wall. Under it's rays the writing appeared.

"Wow…would you look at that!" Castle exclaimed stunned. "It's like a chemistry lab whiteboard. Look at all those chemical compounds. I'm starting to wish I had paid more attention in chem class." He said as he jotted down the formula that was written on the wall.

"Hey guys." Espo yelled from across the room. "Look at this." He was standing in the corner looking down. From where Castle and Beckett originally were it didn't seem that anything was there. They got closer and found what looked like a mutilated pen on the ground. Espo put on a pair of gloves and picked it up for a closer look. "There are wires in here. It's like a hidden remote device or something." He said as he looked it over.

"Wait a second." Castle said as he pulled out his phone. "Yeah that's exactly the same pen that was on the body when they brought it to the morgue. Look." Castle showed Beckett a picture from his phone.

"You're still taking photos of things you shouldn't be Castle?" Beckett snipped.

"Well, it's easier to remember the little things that way. Anyway you're focusing on the wrong part here. It's identical. Maybe the pen in the morgue was some kind of remote control device as well." Castle explained quickly to get the focus off of what he did wrong.

Kate rolled her eyes at him before giving him a little smirk. She took her phone back out of her pocket and called Lanie.

"Hey Lanie, I know this isn't in your job description but could you do me a favor?" She asked as she awaited the reply. "Thanks, could you look more closely at Aaron Summers personal effects that were brought in with him. There should be what looks like an expensive ink pen….yeah that's the one…could you try writing with it? I know it's a weird request just humor me please Lan. Lit up? Can't write with it, but it lit up when you clicked it. Ok. Thanks girl." Beckett said before she addressed the men in her company. "So Lanie is going to have that pen sent to the precinct for me. It seems that you were right Rick. It's not just a pen. Now we have a new mystery to figure out. What does that remote go to."

"Hey does that vent seem off to you?" Espo asked as they were getting ready to leave. He walked over to the vent at the bottom of the wall. It was a little lopsided and he was lucky to have noticed it. He took the vent off and found a note book jammed in the back. As he paged through it his face changed from confusion to understanding. "Do you guys know what this is?" He asked

"No you are still holding it Javi. Since you seem so giddy about it just fill us in." Kate joked.

"Those compounds on the wall. It was what he had been working on in the military. According to these notes he developed a dna specified weapon. The chemicals in this weapon would only be deadly to the person it was designed for. The weapon didn't work without someone's dna." He said as he looked up at two slightly confused faces. "Lets say I developed a bullet from this compound, and my intended target was Castle. In order for this bullet to do him deadly damage I would need his dna worked into the chemical compound of the bullet. Otherwise, it might leave a small hole, but it wouldn't penetrate far enough in to do any damage and the chemicals wouldn't spread they would just stay solid. This is why he had the break down. It was a genius idea in theory he just couldn't justify keeping the program going to develop it. I mean how are you going to get dna from every target to make this a weapon that will do it's job. It looks like he was testing the chemical compound mixed with his own blood. The last entry was from the day of the murder. He has it marked down as a 75% success rate."

"So what…someone found out he was still working on this project and used it against him? I mean that would explain why were couldn't find a trace of the bullet. Let's get back to the precinct and see what Ryan found on Tony Lopiccolo a.k.a Aaron Summers. By the time we get back the pen should be waiting as well." Kate said as they walked out of Tony Lopiccolo's empty apartment.

A half hour later they were back at the precinct. They had just stepped out of the elevator when Ryan came up to them.

"Hey guys, I found a lot while you were gone." Ryan said as the group walked towards their respective desks. "Tony Lopiccolo not only used that Visa to purchase the router, but he also purchased two tickets to Switzerland for the night of the murder. Red eye. One for him and one for a woman named Susan Franklin. I couldn't find anything on her. No driver's license, accounts nothing. I found one bank account under the name Lopiccolo with a balance of $43,000. I'm thinking Tony was Aaron." Ryan stated triumphantly. "Why don't you guys look more surprised by that?" He asked unsure of himself now.

"Because we know that Tony Lopiccolo and Aaron Summers are the same person. He was renting an apartment under that name. Sorry, Ryan it was a great deduction though. So we have a mystery girl now too though. Anything else?" Kate asked

"Yeah, tech was able to find out where those calls were routed to. I got the number right here I was waiting for you guys." Ryan stated as he pushed the speaker button on the phone and dialed.

"911 what is your emergency?" came a voice from the other side.

"Um hello." Said Castle since no one else was responding.

"A murder? Where are you located?" asked the voice.

"I didn't say anything about…" Castle started.

"The college huh…are you at the murder mystery dinner?" asked the voice annoyed.

"Well…" Castle started again.

"Look I don't have time for pranks right now. It's part of the show the guy dies …hence the murder in murder mystery. Stop calling." The voice said again before disconnecting.

"A recorded message?" Beckett asked more to herself than the others. "Ryan see who that number is registered too."

"Just got an email about it….wait….what?" Ryan said as he turned his screen for her to see.

"Tony Lopiccolo?" Beckett asked amazed. "This wasn't a murder Castle it was a suicide."

"That would mean that the remote pen must operate something at the theater. Shall we?" Castle asked as he picked up the evidence bag that was sitting on Beckett's desk.

When they got to the theater it was empty. There were flowers and wreaths lining the outer walls of the building. A lot of people wanted to show their love and loss of Aaron Summers. Beckett and Castle walked up onto the stage and looked around. Castle walked to the spot where Aaron Summers took his last breath and spun around clicking the remote pen.

"Stop Castle." Beckett ordered as she stood off stage. "Click it again right where you are."

She heard something from inside one of the pillars next to her. She rubbed her palm up and down the back when she found a section of the wood that had been cut. She reached into her pocket for her pocket knife. Using it as a lever she managed to get the piece out revealing not only a gun positioned directly where Castle was standing, but a dvd with Meredith written on it. "He really did it himself Castle. He rigged the gun to go off when he clicked the pen, which was probably in his pocket. He had done that scene a million times so he knew everyone's blocking. He made sure they were standing out of the way so the bullet had a clear shot." She said as Castle made his way over to her. She put on her gloves and pulled out the gun and put it in a baggie, she also took the dvd out and handed it to Castle. "I'm going to guess this is his note. Let's get back to the station. I will have the boys bring in Meredith."

When they got back to the precinct they saw Meredith Black pacing in the conference room. Beckett decided she needed to fill her Captain in first, so she knocked on Gates door. She told her about the router and the alias. She let her know that they found a dvd with Meredith's name on it and asked if she would like to sit in while they showed it to her. They went into the conference room as a team. It was just the way they did things. Seeing that many people walk in together made Meredith's heart sink.

"You found something big didn't you? You all look sympathetic and it's freaking me out a little." Meredith said with a nervous laugh.

"Meredith…" Beckett began. She looked at Castle who gave her a reassuring nod. "Meredith we found out what happened to Aaron. I am so sorry, but it seems that it wasn't a murder, but a suicide. He set up a gun at the theater that was controlled by a remote pen he had kept in this pocket. He used a bullet that he had designed while in the military. We also found this." Beckett handed her the dvd. "If you'd like we can sit and watch it with you."

"I would appreciate that Detective." Meredith said as she sat down trying to process the information she had just been given.

Beckett walked over to the tv, and put in the dvd. She hit play and Aaron Summers filled the screen.

"My dear Meredith. If you are watching this then it seems I have failed you. I assume you know what I was also to be wed to Madeline McKenna. You have to believe me when I tell you that I didn't want to marry her. I wanted to be with you. I was forced into this Meredith. Seamus McKenna had gotten his hands on my medical records from the military and was threatening to go public with them. He needed me to marry his daughter so she could get her green card. He paid me $50,000 to do it and promised to keep the records sealed as long as I kept my end of the agreement. I thought I was being smart. I thought I had it all worked out. I used some of that money to set up different identities for us. I had planned to whisk you away to Switzerland where he could never find us. I had reconstructed my weapon formula. I thought I had it figured to where it would give the illusion I was dead. Stop my heart for a few minutes. Long enough for everyone to think I was gone, but not long enough to where I couldn't get away. I was going to send you a text telling you to pack a bag and meet me at the airport no questions asked. It had a 75% success rate just slowing down my blood in the lab. I'm so sorry my love. I never meant to leave you permanently. I never meant you any pain. Please Meredith, please forgive me. Know that I loved you and only you. I'm so sorry."

With that the screen went blank. Meredith sat weeping on the couch for about ten minutes before she stood up and walked over to Beckett. She held out her hand to shake Beckett's.

"Thank you Detective. I know what happened now and hopefully I can move on." Meredith said.

"I'm going to go after McKenna for extortion and bribery Meredith. It might not be much but he is responsible for putting that kind of pressure on Aaron. At least he can get some justice." Beckett stated.

"Thank you Detective." Meredith walked out.

"Mystery solved it seems Detective. I must admit that was an ending I didn't see coming." Castle said as he walked with Beckett to her desk.

"Me either, but those are the endings that make this job worth it. Someone else may have never figured out the puzzle. Meredith may have never gotten to say goodbye the way she did in there." Beckett said. "Just promise me one thing Rick. If you ever get blackmailed that way, and seriously think your only way out is to pull something like that. Tell me…let me help you."

"Always, Detective. Always."


End file.
